May 2018

NUI Galway Students’ Union is today encouraging members of the Oireachtas to vote in favour of the Student Accommodation Bill before the Dáil. The amendment would give students living in student-specific accommodation, under licence, access to the Residential Tenancies Board and inclusion in the rent pressure zones. The current situation has resulted in students rents rising, in some instances, by 18% per annum.

Until this issue is legislated for, students of NUI Galway can neither budget nor plan for their future as they have no certainty regarding the level of rent that they will be paying. Nowhere has this been more evident than in Cúirt Na Coiribe, which increased its rent by 18% between 2017/18 and 2018/19 rates.

Speaking on the issue today, Lorcán Ó Maoileannaigh, Students’ Union President said: “This Bill is an encouraging step by members of the Dáil to recognise and rectify the legal loophole which allows for students, some of the most financially vulnerable in Ireland, to be the ones exposed and exploited to the most insidious rent increases year on year”

“A study on the 8 main purpose built student accommodations in Galway carried out by NUI Galway Students’ Union has found that whilst student rent had remained relatively static from the period of 2009 to 2014, it has since increased by an average of 35% between 2014/15 to 2018/19.”

“At a time when the government recognises the need to protect the right to education, the lack of affordable and protected accommodation dilutes this right for those who simply can’t afford it. NUI Galway is a University comprised of students from all across the island of Ireland and the world. We cannot become an elitist University only accessible to those who can afford to absorb the ever rising cost of rent.”

NUI Galway Students’ Union donated €20,500 to Domestic Violence Response and AMACH! after their year of charity events. Students took part in Croagh Patrick climbs, 5k runs, cake sales, a Christmas day in November, comedy gigs, pet farm visits and collection days to raise €20,500 for charity in the process!

Students’ Union President Lorcán Ó Maoileannaigh said: “Despite the constant cutbacks and daily challenges we all face, students have once again done their bit to help others. NUI Galway students have a very proud tradition of raising money for charities and they have excelled themselves this year.”

Domestic Violence Response is a community led organisation responding to the issue of domestic violence in Galway County.

Elizabeth Powerof Domestic Violence Response said: “NUI Galway students are making a direct positive impact on the lives of women of all ages and backgrounds in Galway City and County as our service provides a lifeline for women and children who struggle to cope with abuse in their lives.”

AMACH! is a volunteer run organisation which represents and advocates on behalf of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community in Galway city and county.

Maria Molloy, Chairperson, of AMACH! LGBT Galwaysaid: “AMACH! LGBT Galway are delighted and honoured to have been chosen for the NUI Galway Students’ Union Charity Fund. Money raised by the students will allow the continued growth of Teach Solais, LGBT+ resource centre, a health promotion hub and social space for members of the LGBT+ and the wider community to utilise.”

The SU Office will be open Monday-Friday 10am-12.30pm & 2pm-4.30pm from Monday 21st of May. The SU Office will BE CLOSED Mon 4th June and Mon 6th Aug (Bank Holidays)

The Student Health Unitwill only see current Postgrad students from Monday 28th of May and remains an acute illness service. Opening hours during the summer: 09:30am-12:30pm & 2.30pm-4.30pm Mon-Fri. Nurse available 10am-12pm & 2.30pm-4.30pm. Closed Monday 4th June and Monday 6th August (Bank Holidays)

Just a quick reminder that your locker must be cleared out before 5pm on Friday 18th of May. We have over 3,200 lockers so we can’t “mind” your property until you get back from your holidays. Everything will be dumped, recycled or donated to charity. All keys (please leave the pad lock on the locker) must be dropped up to the Students’ Union office in Áras na Mac Léinn. We’re open Monday – Friday 10am – 5pm. Any lockers with deposits (Áras Moyola and IT Building) will only be refunded from the Students’ Union office in Áras na Mac Léinn.

Undergrad Exam Results will be released between Tues 19th and Tues 26th June.

Postgrad Exam Results will be released Tues 3rd July.

The Repeat/Autumn Exam timetable will be published on Thurs 12th July.

Repeat Exams will take place Tues 7th – Fri 17th Aug.

Undergraduate Repeat Exam Results will be out Fri 31st Aug.

Postgraduate Repeat Exam Results will be out Tues 11th Sept.

Staying in Galway this summer?

Here’s our guide to what’s on to keep you busy until September! There’s loads of festivals, events and free stuff to do with plenty of volunteering opportunities too.

Want to get rid of unwanted items when you’re clearing out at the end of the semester?
Rover Society are doing a collection of:
Duvets, duvet covers, blankets, sleeping bags, clean clothes (in good shape), accessories, CDs, DVDs, and books. (Pillows are not being collected).
All of these will go to COPE Galway and the Irish Cancer Society.
They will be collecting from the Student Residences on Wednesday 16th May and from NUIG Campus drop-off points from Monday 7th to Friday 19th May.

Just a quick reminder that you must collect any book belonging to you which are still in the SU Second-hand Bookstore before 4.30pm Thursday 31st of May. We cannot keep the books for you over the summer and any books which have not been collected by this date will be given away for free.

The Undergraduate Awards is the world’s leading undergraduate awards programme which recognises top undergraduate work, shares this work with a global audience and connects students across cultures and disciplines.

The programme is open to all penultimate and final year undergraduate students in a degree course, as well as those who graduated in 2017, from all disciplines. We invite students to enter both outstanding academic papers and research, as well as visual arts portfolios using our online forms. The deadline for the 2018 programme is Tuesday 12th June 2018. Global Winners are published in the annual ‘The Undergraduate Journal’, as well as being invited to the UA Global Summit in Dublin, Ireland.

There will be extra study space available 9am-9pm until Thursday 17th of May in the following venues:

O’Flaherty Theatre

Kirwan Theatre

Larmor Theatre

Tyndall Theatre

Darcy Thompson Theatre

Give Blood in Galway this May

5pm-8.30pm Tues 15th May Clybaun Hotel

5pm-8.30pm Weds 16th May Clybaun Hotel

5pm-8.30pm Thurs 17th May Clybaun Hotel

12pm-3.30pm Sun 20th May Clybaun Hotel

5pm-8.30pm Tues 22nd May Menlo Park Hotel

5pm-8.30pm Weds 23rd May Menlo Park Hotel

5pm-8.30pm Thurs 24th May Menlo Park Hotel

Learn How To Walk the Tightrope!

If you’ve ever dreamed of running away with the circus Wires Crossed is one of the Galway 2020 projects that will be taking place over the summer teaching people to walk the tightrope. The aim is to have 400 people trained by 2020. Sign up here.

There are seven positions to be filled on their national executive team for the 2018/2019 academic year. If you are interested in applying email a short paragraph to national.exec@ireifh.com

NUI Galway Summer Holiday Arrangements 2018

The SU Office will be open Monday-Friday 10am-12.30pm & 2pm-4.30pm from Monday 21st of May. The SU Office will BE CLOSED Mon 4th June and Mon 6th Aug (Bank Holidays)

The Student Health Unitwill only see current Postgrad students from Monday 28th of May and remains an acute illness service. Opening hours during the summer: 09:30am-12:30pm & 2.30pm-4.30pm Mon-Fri. Nurse available 10am-12pm & 2.30pm-4.30pm. Closed Monday 4th June and Monday 6th August (Bank Holidays)

The NUI Galway Students’ Union most strongly condemns the planned increases to Cúirt na Coiribe student accommodation rent for the academic year 2018/19. Cúirt na Coiribe has housed NUI Galway students since the year 2000 and has always provided for students who have come from outside of Galway and overseas to study here. Furthermore, they have many students who return year on year to their accommodation.

The planned rent increases of 18% means a student could be paying an additional €1,000 for a nine month / 39 week lease following a change in ownership in 2018.

Today, Cúirt na Coiribe released its priority booking to current residents by email, stating that if they want to avail of this option that it opens on Wednesday 9th May and will open to the general public on the 15th May. Detailed in this email it was advised that students take advantage of this one week notice to book their place for the coming academic year “as given the high demand currently we will book out immediately once the general public apply”. The statement is clear, if you cannot afford the 18% rent increase, you will be immediately priced out of Cúirt Na Coiribe accommodation.

What this means is that today, the student residents of Cúirt Na Coiribe have returned to their accommodation from their first week of exams. Their attention will not be on their next exam, but rather, on how they can commit to an immediate increase of €1,000 to ensure they can return to Galway, have a roof over their head and continue their studies. It is these students for whom we are greatly concerned.

We are also concerned for the potential college student about to sit the Leaving cert, who is looking at college accommodation; only to realise that it is far beyond their reach. The student who has worked a part time job to save for their deposit, only to discover that they are now not going to be able to afford their accommodation anymore. Students are one of the groups most sharply affected by the accommodation crisis, and this unprecedented increase, which comes without warning or reason, seems to be a gross attempt to take advantage of that. Over half of NUI Galway students are on a grant, we see students in our offices everyday who are struggling to stay in college for financial reasons. We cannot stand by and watch students be exploited by this increase.

We are asking for affordable accommodation for all students. This increase seems nothing short of the manipulation of students under financial pressure. It is extremely concerning that these rent increases have been announced around exam time, on a Friday evening on a bank holiday with an extremely short timespan for people to get a deposit in.

We are calling on Galway City, where students are a valued part of the community, on The National University of Galway, Ireland, where students are at the heart of everything they do, and most importantly on Cúirt Na Coiribe; to recognise the striking blow this increase represents to student residents and work with us to rectify this wrong. We also call on the Government to introduce rent caps in student accommodation in line with the consumer price index.

We welcome any opportunity to sit down with the management of Cúirt na Coiribe, to discuss these increases.

Just a quick reminder that your locker must be cleared out before 5pm on Friday 18th of May. We have over 3,200 lockers so we can’t “mind” your property until you get back from your holidays. Everything will be dumped, recycled or donated to charity. All keys (please leave the padlock on the locker) must be dropped up to the Students’ Union office in Áras na Mac Léinn. We’re open Monday – Friday 10am – 5pm. Any lockers with deposits (Áras Moyola and IT Building) will only be refunded from the Students’ Union office in Áras na Mac Léinn.

Exam Tips

Check, double check and triple check your timetable NOW! Every year we have students who read their timetable wrong and end up missing an exam – don’t be that guy!
2. Find your College ID and bring it with you to every exam. If you have lost it call to the Student Information Desk to get a new one for €20. You will be fined €30 if you don’t have your ID with you.
3. Plan how you are getting to the exams NOW and set all your alarms. You need to be there 20 minutes prior to the start of the examination so that’s: 09:10 for a 09:30 exam, 12:40 for a 13:00 exam and 16:10 for a 16:30 exam.
4. Leave your phone at home – it’s a €20 fine for bringing your phone to the exam AND other penalties can include mark reduction and getting zero marks for the module. iWatches are also not permitted at exams.
5. WASH! If you even have your shopping list written on your hand scrub it off. If you have any writing on your body, no matter how unrelated to the exam, you’ll fail the exam and have to repeat.
6. Follow the directions of the Exam Invigilators at all times.
7. If you need advice on deferring your exams please contact the SU Education Officer, Andrew Forde on su.education@nuigalway.ie or your College Office.
8. You can’t bring in pencil cases, glasses cases or calculator covers to the exam.
9. You can’t leave the Exam Venue for the first hour or the last 30 mins of the exam
10. Relax – you got this!

#BestOfLuckToYeAll

Voter Registration Deadline Tuesday 8th May

The deadline to register to vote in the upcoming referendum is Tuesday the 8th of May. Here’s a handy guide to making sure that you can vote in the referendum on Friday 25th of May. You can collect voter registration forms in the SU – these need to be stamped by the Gardaí posted to your city/county council by Friday! http://www.youth.ie/vote

Want to get rid of unwanted items when you’re clearing out at the end of the semester?
Rover Society are doing a collection of:
Duvets, duvet covers, blankets, sleeping bags, clean clothes (in good shape), accessories, CDs, DVDs, and books. (Pillows are not being collected).
All of these will go to COPE Galway and the Irish Cancer Society.
They will be collecting from the Student Residences on Wednesday 16th May and from NUIG Campus drop-off points from Monday 7th to Friday 19th May.

Just a quick reminder that you must collect any book belonging to you which are still in the SU Second-hand Bookstore before 4.30pm Thursday 31st of May. We cannot keep the books for you over the summer and any books which have not been collected by this date will be given away for free.

Extra Study Space

There will be extra study space available 9am-9pm until Thursday 17th of May in the following venues:

O’Flaherty Theatre

Kirwan Theatre

Larmor Theatre

Tyndall Theatre

Darcy Thompson Theatre

Extended Library Opening Hours This Weekend

Thanks to the library staff who have agreed to facilitate extended weekend opening hours again on following weekends:

5th/6th May

The library will be open Saturdays 8.30am-9pm & Sundays 10am-9pm on these weekends.

Study Break Policy Back in Library

Remember if you leave your belongings unattended at a study desk for more than 1 hour other students have permission to move them to one side and use the space. Please use the “I’m taking a study break” sheets in the library to record the time you leave and come back within the hour!

May Bank Holiday Arrangements

The SU Office, SU Engineering Desk, Sult and the Student Health Unit will all be closed this Monday 7th of May for the Bank Holiday.

One of the best ways to prove ownership of your bike, if it’s stolen, is to have a record of its serial number and a photo of you with your bike. Smarter Travel Campus want to help motivate you to do this by offering you a chance to win a ‘Sold Secure’ Gold/Silver standard bike lock.

All you need to do to enter is fill in the form below and send a photo of you with your bike and your bike’s serial number to info@smartertravelworkplaces.ie

Galway City Council and Galway County Council invite applications from organisations wishing to host a cycling event/initiative during Galway Bike Festival which takes place as part of National Bike Week, from Saturday 9th of June to Sunday 17th June 2018. Galway Bike Festival is all about celebrating and promoting cycling for transport, getting people back on their bikes and raising awareness around the health and lifestyle benefits of everyday cycling.

Funding will be made available to support local cycling events and activities as part of the Galway Bike Festival celebrations.